6 Best External Hard Drives for Photographers

By Rachit Agarwal Published April 6, 2022

Images and videos take up a lot of space on laptops, which anyway come with a limited space. As a photographer, you need a trusty external hard drive that can store your photographs and keep them safe. Here are the 6 best external hard drives for photographers to buy.

6 Best External Hard Drives for Photographers

The hard drives mentioned in this list come in several different storage configurations to choose the one depending on your needs. These hard drives are easy to use and work with most operating systems.

So, without further ado, let’s get to our list, shall we? But first,

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1. Seagate Portable External Hard Drive

Seagate Portable External Hard Drive

Buy

If you seek an affordable and reliable hard drive to save your photos and videos, check out the Seagate portable hard drive. It’s a plug-and-play hard drive means you don’t need to install any software or drivers to get it to work. It can reach sequential read and write speeds up to 120MBps. At only 2.5-inches, the hard drive is small and easy to carry.

For better data protection and recovery, it comes with Seagate’s Rescue Data Recovery Services software. Besides that, you also have access to 1 year of free Mylio Create and four months of Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions. That’s quite helpful for creating backups and making your workflow easy.

Photographers love this drive because it’s affordable and comes with an industry-leading data recovery service for free.

2. Transcend StoreJet 25M3

Transcend StoreJet 25M3

Buy

Transcend StoreJet 25M3 is another good option, thanks to its sturdy body. It has an anti-shock rubber casing to handle a few drops and shocks. You will also love its OneTouch auto-backup button that instantly starts backing up your data.

Other features of this drive include 256-Bit AES encryption, a USB 3.0 interface, and three years of warranty, in case something does wrong. You also get a free protective case to carry the drive and protect it from regular wear and tear.

Buyers love this hard drive for its built-in protection and OneTouch auto-backup system.

3. G-Technology ArmorATD

G-Technology ArmorATD

Buy

If you are always working outdoors, you might want to invest in a sturdy hard drive. We recommend the G-Technology ArmorATD hard drive which has a triple-layer shock resistance design with a 1000lb crush rating. It also has sealed enclosures for ports and protects against dust and water resistance, thanks to the IP54 rating.

The hard drive comes with up to one meter of drop protection and can reach a transfer speed of up to 140MBps. It’s also USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 compatible hard drive and works with both Windows and macOS operating systems.

If you go through extremes to capture the perfect shot, make sure that you have a hard drive that can keep up with you.

4. LaCie Rugged External Hard Drive

LaCie Rugged External Hard Drive

Buy

The LaCie Rugged hard drive is another good option for photographers who want a sturdy hard drive to survive some drops and bumps. It’s a compact drive that you can get in up to 5TB capacity, and it can reach up to 130MBps transfer speed.

Its outer covering makes it resistant to drops, splashes of water, and sand – making it the perfect companion while you engage in beach-side photography. The hard drive comes with a two-year data rescue plan, where the company will rescue your data for free if anything happens.

You also get features like a one-click backup and one month’s free subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

5. SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Enterprise

SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE Enterprise

Buy

SanDisk makes an Enterprise version of its fast hard drives that are perfect for photographers who need more storage on the go. You can get this drive with up to 18TB of storage. Also, it has a 7200RPM Ultrastar drive inside, giving you read and write speeds up to 200MBps.

The drive works well with macOS and is Apple Time machine ready to let you take a backup of your Mac with ease. Using the drive with Windows will require formatting of the drive, which some users might find annoying. Also, this drive requires an external power source to run.

That said, if you are looking for a super-fast, high-capacity drive that can safely store all your photographs, this might be the one for you.

6. Glyph BlackBox Pro

Glyph BlackBox Pro

Buy

The Glyph BlackBox Pro is a super-fast 7200RPM hard drive that can reach read and write speeds of up to 250MBps. It supports the latest USB-C 3.1 port and is backward compatible with older USB standards. Like the SanDisk Professional, you can get this drive with up to 18TB of storage.

It is a rugged hard drive designed for creative professionals and has a quiet, fan-less design that lets you work without any distractions. The drive comes pre-formatted with HFS+ standard and is Time Machine compatible. You will need to reformat the drive for it to work with Windows machines.

While you can travel with this device, note that this requires an external power source as your laptop alone cannot provide enough juice to power it up.

Top External Hard Drives for Photographers

These are some of the best hard drives you can buy as a photographer. Depending on your budget and requirement, you can choose the drive that best suits your needs. So, check them out and let us know which hard drive you chose as your trusty storage companion.

Last updated on 04 April, 2022

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